NATIONAL CONFERENCE for TEACHERS of ENGLISH and LITERACY PROGRAM BOOKLET Adelaide Convention Centre 7-10 July 2016
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NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AND LITERACY PROGRAM BOOKLET adelaide convention centre 7-10 July 2016 www.englishliteracyconference.com.au The convenors wish to thank the significant support of our Principal Partner Acknowledgement of Country Kaurna miyurna Kaurna yarta ngadlu tampinthi Translation Kaurna to English We acknowledge the Kaurna People and Kaurna Country. The Adelaide Convention Centre is situated on Kaurna land and we acknowledge the Kaurna Elders, past and present, are the traditional custodians of this land. 2 Welcome to the AATE/ALEA National Conference Adelaide Convention Centre, July 7-10, 2016 The Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association welcome you to South Australia for the 2016 national conference. Weave your way through wondrous words and worlds as you embrace Adelaide like you’ve never seen it before. We are indebted to the many volunteers who have made this event a reality. We thank SAETA and ALEA SA committee members who have been working hard since July 2013 to make this conference a reality. We also thank them for their commitment and countless hours of time so generously given to the organisation and behind the scenes running of the conference. We also thank all of our presenters from across Australia and overseas for their preparations in the lead-up to the conference. Our national associations, AATE and ALEA, have also provided support, wisdom and expertise gained from previous conferences and administratively through the head office in Adelaide and in particular the work of Wendy Rush, Lucy Carberry and Jarred Van Abkoude. We trust that you will enjoy the conference: an invaluable opportunity to network with other educators, consider and discuss the big picture issues in education, and consider practical strategies to be enacted in our educational contexts. May your memories of our conference be very positive and your experiences professionally rewarding. Conference Co-Convenors: Alison Robertson Rosemary Kadow Julia Johnson President State Director SA President SA South Australian English Teachers Australian Literacy Educators' Association Australian Literacy Educators' Association Association Educational Consultant Literacy Consultant Teacher, Wilderness School Association of Independent Schools SA Catholic Education SA Conference Theme: Weaving worlds with words and wonder… The theme of our conference is inspired by the creative impulse that we witness in our students of all ages. As teachers, we can nurture their wonder, helping learners inquire into their world and use language to weave words into narratives that give meaning to their lives. The three strands are: Narrative N Narratives help us create maps of ourselves, and reading other people’s narratives enables us to become citizens of the world. One person’s story is often the springboard to other people’s thinking. How can teachers sharing their stories of practice, and how they weave their way through the competing demands of schools, systems and students, help us all become better, self-reflective practitioners? Creativity C Creativity and innovation are tools our learners need to flourish in an ever-changing, connected and increasingly outsourced world. Teachers foster creativity, empowering learners to see their world in new ways, and to use a range of modes to create their visions. As practitioners, how can we continue to build on our current pedagogy and embrace innovative approaches to engage and inspire our students and ourselves? Language & Inquiry L+I What do we wonder? Language is one of the means of communicating that wonder. Students need to have the opportunity to inquire into the things that matter to them, and the tools to critically evaluate the language that shapes the myriad of texts they encounter on their journey to understanding and creating. As teachers, how can we enhance our own knowledge of the power of language to help learners navigate the complex linguistic world they inhabit as they inquire into things that matter to them? 3 Presidents’ Welcome Allow the Adelaide national conference theme’s alliteration to work to welcome you into the wonder which will be the 2016 event. As all subject-English teachers are aware, the creative impulse is strong in both our pedagogical practices and in what we hope we are able to inspire in our students. When we come together, as this conference invites us to, to share our experiences and visions, and hear the approaches of those around our country and from around the globe, we inspire each other. AATE Council is very pleased that so many of you can get together for what will doubtless be engaging dialogue – in workshops, at keynotes and panels, and over the meals and social events which occur around such conferences. I would particularly like to thank the convenors of the organising committee, Alison Robinson, Rosemary Kadow and Julia Johnson. The tireless work over a number of years of both the convenors and the members of the committee ensure that you have been offered a dynamic and engaging program. The small AATE/ALEA office team, led by Wendy Rush and comprising Lucy Carberry and Jared van Abkoude, also deserve our thanks. It is no easy task to negotiate volunteer organisations, and Wendy’s exemplary skill in this capacity does mean that AATE is able to support members and the interests of the English-teaching profession in many ways. We hope you will take the dialogue you start over the next two days beyond the conference, as well as take the opportunity that this time away from the classroom provides to celebrate your achievements, engage with new ideas and approaches to classroom practice, renew old friendships and establish new ones. Monika Wagner National President of the Australian Association of Teachers of English (AATE) Welcome conference delegates and to those of you from out of town, welcome to Adelaide. I would like to acknowledge that the Adelaide Convention Centre is situated on Kaurna land and I pay my respects to the Kaurna Elders, past and present, who are the traditional custodians of this land. It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to join us for the 2016 AATE/ALEA Weaving worlds with words and wonder… conference. I’m sure you’ll agree that the program looks exciting from both professional and social perspectives. In a world that is so often focused on ‘outcomes and deliverables’ it is highly appropriate that our conference also focuses on ‘wonder and ‘creativity’. The conference convenors remind us that the theme of the conference is inspired by the creative impulse that we witness in our students of all ages. As teachers, we can nurture their wonder, helping learners inquire into their world and use language to weave words into narratives that give meaning to their lives. Throughout the conference I encourage you to network with other educators and ‘tell your story’ and reflect on the stories of others. I encourage you to be ‘creative’ and innovate on your current practices and finally, I encourage you to ‘wonder’ about the possibilities for a highly literate and socially just world. Such an impressive program only happens through years of planning and consistent hard work by the state convenors and their team. Our warmest congratulations and deep appreciation to co-convenors Rosemary Kadow and Julia Johnson from ALEA and to Alison Robertson from AATE for such a vibrant and exciting conference program. We sincerely hope that you all get some time to also enjoy the conference with the delegates. I hope that you take up the convenors’ challenge to “Weave your way through wondrous words and worlds as you embrace Adelaide like you’ve never seen it before!” I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming days. With best wishes on behalf of ALEA National Council. Grant Webb National President of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) 4 Thursday 7th July Pre-conference Institute: Re-Reading Dartmouth 8.00- Foyer F Registration 9.00 9.00 Riverbank 7 TH01 Acknowledgement of country Alison Robertson Welcome and overview Patricia Dowsett 9.15 Riverbank 7 TH02 Brenton Doecke Chair: Patricia Dowsett Presentation 30m Background into the Dartmouth Seminar 1966 (All) The main purpose of this introductory presentation is to set up a framework for both presenters and members of the audience to explore the continuing significance of the Dartmouth Seminar for English teachers today. Interaction, not transmission, is the aim of this seminar, through which we hope to achieve a better understanding of ‘the persistent pedagogy of “Growth”’, as Ian Reid has expressed it (Reid, 2003), how we should view that persistence, and whether we should see ourselves as continuing to work within the parameters set by John Dixon in his influential account of the Dartmouth Seminar, or as transcending those parameters in significant ways. I shall briefly be reminding people about Dartmouth, revisiting the historical moment in 1966 when this remarkable gathering of educators and scholars from the UK and North America took place. The Dartmouth Seminar, especially the account given of it by John Dixon in Growth Through English (1967/1972), critically investigated the assumptions at the heart of English teaching, articulating a compelling vision of the relationship between English teaching, schooling and democracy in the post- war period (cf. Medway et al. 2014). My primary concern, however, is not with the details of the event as it actually occurred, or the historical context out of which the seminar arose, but to raise questions about what it means for us as English educators to cultivate an historical imagination, and how this might enhance our understanding of the work we do as English educators at the present moment. My aim is to say why it still matters to debate the legacy of Dartmouth as an important way of understanding ourselves.